A look at the new Dolphins coaching staff

With the off-season now well underway and the Miami Dolphins coaching staff almost complete, we take a look at the new faces around Miami. Adam Gase has assembled most of his staff and is now likely wading through game tape of his players.

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While we know the names of the coaches, do we really know who they are? Here is a look at the new coaching staff’s history.

Adam Gase – head coach

Coaching since 2000.

Gase entered the coaching arena at Louisiana State as a graduate assistant. He became a recruiting assistant in 2001 and stayed in that position until 2002. In 2003 he joined the Detroit Lions in the same position and held that for two years. In 2004 Gase was given the title of offensive assistant and in 2007 was promoted to quarterbacks coach.

For one season Gase served as an offensive assistant with the San Francisco 49’ers before joining the Broncos as their wide-receivers coach in 2009. In 2011 he became the QB coach and in 2012 became the offensive coordinator. When John Fox was released following the 2014 season, Gase continued his OC role with Fox in Chicago in 2015.

In 2013 and 2014 Gase’s offense ranked first in offensive yards and 4th in 2014. His passing offense ranked 1 and 4 but his rushing offense ranked 15th both seasons.
Darren Rizzi – Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator

Coaching since 1993

Rizzi began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Colgate in 1993. From ’94-’97 he served as the defensive coordinator for New Haven and in ’98 coached special teams for Northwestern. From 1999-2001 Rizzi returned to New Haven as the team’s head coach.

For five years spanning 2002 to 2007 Rizzi coached special teams for Rutgers and then coached one year at Rhode Island where he was the head coach. In 2010 he joined the NFL coaching the Miami Dolphins special teams units.

As a head coach, Rizzi has an 18-23 record.

Clyde Christensen – Offensive Coordinator:

Coaching since 1979

Like most of the other coaches, Christensen began as a graduate assistant at Mississippi. He coached quarterbacks and receivers from 1980-82 at East Tennessee State. Christensen was at the college level in various roles from 1979 until 1996 when he joined the NFL ranks asa tight ends coach for Tampa Bay. He would coach quarterbacks from 1999-2000 and then became the offensive coordinator in 2001. He has served as an OC with the Buccaneers, the Colts, and now Miami. He will not call plays as that job will remain with Adam Gase however he is one of the most experienced coaches on staff.

Bo Hardegree – Quarterbacks

Coaching since 2008

No other position coach will be under the microscope in 2016 more than Hardegree. His work with Ryan Tannehill this off-season will be paramount to the quarterbacks success in the new system. Hardegree has been coaching for eight years mostly with quarterbacks. He began as a graduate assistant at Duke and spent six years at the college level before moving to the NFL. He spent 2014 coaching quarterbacks in Denver and 2015 with the Chicago Bears as an offensive assistant.

Danny Barrett – Running Backs

Coaching since 1997

Barrett, a former CFL player began his coaching career with the Calgary Stampeders as a quarterback coach. He spent most of his first years in the CFL before joining UCF in 2011 as the teams running backs coach. He would spend time as the RB coach, the QB coach, and in 2015 was named the teams interim head coach. The Dolphins will be his first coaching job at the NFL level.

Chris Foerster – offensive line

Coaching since – 1982

Foerster is no stranger to the Dolphins and could potentially be the worst hire of the Adam Gase era. Foerster worked with the Dolphins in 2004 and was briefly elevated to offensive coordinator prior to the start of the season. He began coaching in college at Colorado State as a GA. He coached the offensive line from 1983-1987 and then took over similar roles at Stanford. His first NFL job came in 1993 when joined the Vikings as a tight ends coach. Over his career he has mostly coached offensive lineman and has been coaching them specifically since 2005 while with the Ravens. It’s been rumored that Foerster lost his job with Baltimore due to pornography on his work computer. Although there has been nothing verified. Foerster has not had much success with offensive lines coaching last years 49’ers squad and the Redskins prior to that.

Jeremiah Washburn – Assistant offensive line

Coaching since 2000

Washburn was a GA at Arkansas for two seasons before joining the NFL’s Carolina Panthers as a football operations assistant in 2002. From 2003 to 2008 he served as a player personnel assistant and area scout for the Baltimore Ravens. He joined the Detroit Lions in 2009 as an assistant offensive line coach, a position he held until 2013 when he was promoted to offensive line coach.

Shane Day – Tight Ends

Coaching since 2001

Day is still a young coach he began coaching receivers at Auburn Riverside High-School where he stayed from 2001 to 2004. In 2006 he joined the staff at the University of Michigan as an offensive quality control coach working with Chad Henne. He jumped to the NFL in 2007 with the 49ers as an offensive quality control coach under Mike Martz. He would coach the quarterbacks, running backs, and offensive line in his three seasons. Martz would bring day to Chicago with him in 2010 as the Bears quarterback coach. Day would return to the college ranks in 2012 with UConn and then back to the NFL in 2014 with the Redskins as an offensive line assistant.

Shawn Jefferson – Wide-receivers

Coaching since 2005

Jefferson played college football at UCF and was drafted by the Chargers in the 9th round. He played until 2003. In 2005 he made the jump into coaching with the Detroit Lions until 2012 before joining the Titans for the last three seasons.

Ben Johnson – Assistant receivers coach

Coaching since 2011

As a GA, Johnson worked with the Boston College program as a video GA and worked with the tight ends in 2011. 2016 will be his first coaching job in the NFL.

Next: Defensive coaching staff